Adam Amin is apparently a NFL broadcaster by day, and a DJ by night.
According to a new profile of Amin by Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel, the Fox Sports NFL play-by-play announcer has carved out a side gig in Chicago’s nightlife scene. Amin, who also calls the Chicago Bulls for CHSN and MLB telecasts on Fox, doesn’t just go home after calling a game. He goes to the club to spin tracks.
“On my laptop, I have something like 2,000 songs, and I’ll pick somewhere between 50-70 songs that I think will work in the room,” Amin told Front Office Sports.
Those songs included popular hits like Hustlin by Rick Ross and The Way I Are by Timbaland on the night that Amin was profiled.
“Tonight was what’s called a ‘commercial’ room—people want to hear versions of songs they know. I think I have a good sense of what the people here want to hear,” Amin said.
Prior to joining ESPN in 2011, DJ’ing was more than a hobby for Amin.
“I spent 10 years of my life doing this professionally,” Amin told Front Office Sports. “I did every homecoming weekend in high school. They gave me four periods off [class] and paid me to play music in the cafeteria for my friends. I worked as a wedding DJ and a mobile DJ at corporate events. One of my brothers did this professionally, so that’s how I learned music when I was younger. I made a good amount of money—I helped pay for my first year of college by DJ’ing.”
He quit DJ’ing after landing his ESPN gig, but picked it back up two years ago after feeling “stagnant” creatively.
As far as hobbies a play-by-play broadcaster could have outside of sports, this has to be one of the cooler ones. Not too many play-by-players can perform to an audience of millions during a game, and then go perform in front hundreds in a live audience just hours later.
Most would need to unwind. Not Amin.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.